Contents

Dedication

“Walt Disney World is a tribute to the philosophy and life of Walter Elias Disney... and to the talents, the dedication, and the loyalty of the entire Disney organization that made Walt Disney's dream come true. May Walt Disney World bring Joy and Inspiration and New Knowledge to all who come to this happy place ... a Magic Kingdom where the young at heart of all ages can laugh and play and learn — together.”

Construction

Magic Kingdom in the last stages before opening.

Although Walt Disney himself had been highly involved in planning The Florida Project, the Walt Disney Company began construction on Magic Kingdom and the entire resort in 1967 following Walt's death in 1966. The Magic Kingdom park was built similarly to the existing Disneyland Park in California. The Florida park, however, was built in a larger area and improved upon Disneyland's design.

There are several anecdotes relating to reasons for some of the features of Walt Disney World, and the Magic Kingdom specifically. According to one story, Walt Disney once saw a Frontierland cowboy walking through Tomorrowland at Disneyland. He disliked how the cowboy intruded on the futuristic setting of Tomorrowland and wanted to avoid situations like this in the new park. Therefore, Magic Kingdom was built over a series of tunnels called utilidors, a contraction of the words "utility" and "corridor". These tunnels allow cast members to move through the park out of sight from guests, maintaining the illusion of the show.

Because of Florida's high water table, the tunnels could not be constructed underground, so they were built at the existing grade. This means that the park itself is actually built on the second story, giving Magic Kingdom an elevation of 107 feet (33 m). The area around the utilidors was filled in with dirt removed from the Seven Seas Lagoon, which was being constructed at the same time.

The utilidors were built in the initial construction and were not extended as the park expanded. The tunnels were only used in Magic Kingdom because of financial constraints, but they were meant to be employed in all subsequent Walt Disney World parks. Epcot's Future World and Pleasure Island each have a smaller network of utilidors.

Opening

Magic Kingdom's Opening Day.

The Magic Kingdom opened as the first part of Walt Disney's planned Florida Project on October 1, 1971. It was the only theme park on the resort at the time and opened concurrently with two hotels on the property: Disney's Contemporary Resort and Disney's Polynesian Resort. The park opened with 23 attractions, three unique to the park and 20, often somewhat different, copies of attractions at Disneyland. The Walt Disney Company promised to increase this number with more attractions like those in Disneyland as well as more unique ones. The attractions were split into six themed lands. Five of these lands were counterparts to those at Disneyland and the sixth is Liberty Square, unique in name, but sharing the same attractions as Disneyland's New Orleans Square.

While there is no individual dedication to Magic Kingdom Park, the dedication by Roy O. Disney for the entire Walt Disney World Resort was placed within its gates.

Walt Disney World is a tribute to the philosophy and life of Walter Elias Disney... and to the talents, the dedication, and the loyalty of the entire Disney organization that made Walt Disney's dream come true. May Walt Disney World bring Joy and Inspiration and New Knowledge to all who come to this happy place... a Magic Kingdom where the young at heart of all ages can laugh and play and learn — together. Dedicated this 25th day of October, 1971. Roy Oliver Disney.

History

Some of it is from "The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World" by Susan Veness.

1971-1972

The Magic Kingdom opened on October 1, 1971, to a crowd of 10,000 visitors.

In 1974, America the Beautiful closed and reopened the next day with a new film called Magic Carpet 'Round the World, which closed after a year and America the Beautiful returned. Star Jets opened.

By the end of 1974, the park’s popularity was so big that on December 29, a record 74,597 day-guests passed through the gates and, for the first time in the park's history, closed due to over-capacity.

1975

Space Mountain; the crowning attraction in Tomorrowland.

In January 1975, the long-awaited Space Mountain attraction opened in Tomorrowland.

After some time, when travelling to the Moon lost its mystique, Flight to the Moon became Mission to Mars.

In June, America on Parade debuted to honor the United States Bicentennial.

The classic Carousel of Progress was moved to the Magic Kingdom, after having concluded a seven-year run at Disneyland.

1976-1981

WDW's 10th Anniversary Special.

Although 1976 was quiet in terms of new attractions, the Magic Kingdom hit a milestone when Susan Brummer passed through the gates as the park's 50,000,000th visitor. Three years later, another, even more momentous milestone occurred when Kurt Miller became visitor number 100,000,000.

A film titled "A Dream Called EPCOT" began playing at the park's EPCOT Preview Center, generating excitement for the new park.

1981 focused on the Magic Kingdom's 10th Anniversary. The stage show Disney World Is Your World opened and the Tencennial Parade started running. Disney World welcomed its 126,000,000th guest during the tencennial celebrations.

1982-1983

Most of Walt Disney World's energy was focused on EPCOT Center through 1982 and 1983. The Plaza Swan Boats no longer swam the park's island waters as of August 1983.

1984

A change of power occurred in 1984, with Michael Eisner becoming the new chairman and chief executive officer of Walt Disney Productions, which later changed its name to The Walt Disney Company.

In July, the stage show Show Biz Is opened, only to close two months later.

1984 was the year of Donald Duck's 50th birthday, with a special parade debuting in his honor. An identical parade was also featured at Disneyland.

Magic Carpet 'Round the World was replaced by American Journeys and the Frontierland Shooting Gallery reopened as the Frontierland Shootin' Arcade.

1985-1987

After the upheaval of 1984, it would be another four years before any new developments would occur in the Magic Kingdom. Time and money were being used to expand EPCOT Center and develop the resort's third gate—the $300 million "Hollywood that Never Was and Always Will Be" which would open as the Disney MGM Studios on May 1, 1989.

Walt Disney World 15th anniversary logo.

On October 1, 1986, Walt Disney World celebrated its 15th anniversary, and ran until September 30 the following year. A special parade to mark the occasion debuted at the Magic Kingdom.

Merlin's Magic Shop was closed and the Diamond Horseshoe Revue was renamed the Diamond Horseshoe Jamboree. If You Had Wings was renamed If You Could Fly. Magic Journeys, the first 3-D attraction in the park, debuted in the former Mickey Mouse Revue theater, after Captain EO had replaced the show at EPCOT.

1988-1990

In honor of Mickey Mouse's 60th birthday, a temporary land called Mickey's Birthdayland opened. The area consisted of Mickey’s House, Grandma Duck’s Petting Farm, Mickey's Playground and three circus-style tents housing character meet-and-greets and two live shows including Minnie’s Surprise Birthday Party. One of the prime attractions was a cow living at the petting farm named Minnie Moo, born with the classic tri-circle Mickey head on her side.

Due to its enormous popularity, Mickey’s Birthdayland was kept and renamed Mickey's Starland in 1990.

1991-1993

Splash Mountain.

In September 1991, the popular Main Street Electrical Parade ended its run and was replaced by SpectroMagic. The Surprise Celebration Parade debuted in September as part of Walt Disney World's 20th Anniversary celebration.

It had been 12 years since the Magic Kingdom welcomed a major new attraction.

The Walt Disney Story closed in October 1992 followed by Mission to Mars in October 1993. The Hall of Presidents and Carousel of Progress both underwent huge refurbishments. In December, Magic Journeys closed. A month later American Journeys closed, followed by the Surprise Celebration Parade and Star Jets.

1994

In 1994, Tomorrowland received a major refurbishment—it had begun to look dated, so the Imagineers gave it a general design, creating a City of the Future. In the process, the WEDway PeopleMover was renamed the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. Later that year, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea closed.

1994-1995

In 1994, The Legend of the Lion King opened in the former Mickey Mouse Revue theater. In November, The Timekeeper opened. Star Jets reopened as Astro Orbiter. Snow White's Adventures underwent an extensive upgrade, toning down its scare factors and adding the character of Snow White herself to the ride. The Mickey Mania parade debuted.

The Grand Prix Raceway's track was shortened to make room for the new Toontown Fair attractions. It was later renamed the Tomorrowland Speedway.

Also in 1996, the Richard F. Irvine riverboat was renamed the Liberty Belle and Delta Dreamflight was renamed Take Flight. As part of Walt Disney World's 25th Anniversary celebration, the Remember the Magic Parade debuted and Cinderella Castle was transformed into a giant birthday cake.

In 1997, King Stefan’s Banquet Hall was renamed Cinderella's Royal Table.

It's a Small World, The Haunted Mansion, the Hall of Presidents and Space Mountain all underwent huge refurbishments.

In 2010, SpectroMagic departed yet again for another return engagement of the Main Street Electrical Parade.

In 2011, The Enchanted Tiki Room: Under New Management closed following a fire and the Tiki Room was restored to its original show.

The Fantasyland expansion was amongst the largest of the park's history, putting an emphasis on storytelling through homages to classic Disney animated features such as The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Tangled and others.

In 2011, Mickey's Toontown Fair closed as construction was beginning on the expansion of Fantasyland. The expansion's first phase, Storybook Circus, opened in the former site of the Toontown Fair in the spring in 2012, featuring a newly-relocated Dumbo the Flying Elephant and a rethemed version of The Barnstormer. In May 2012, Snow White's Scary Adventures closed to make way for Princess Fairytale Hall, which opened the following year. The New Fantasyland officially opened in November 2012 with the additions of Enchanted Tales with Belle, the Be Our Guest Restaurant, Gaston's Tavern, Under the Sea- Journey of the Little Mermaid and a new Ariel's Grotto.

In February of 2015, the park unveiled an expanded Central Plaza area, proceeding Cinderella Castle, as the first phase in an ongoing hub expansion to include new pathways and sculpted gardens, among others.

That same year, Pirates of the Caribbean closed throughout the summer season to undergo refurbishments, reopening a few months afterwards in September.

Also in 2015, turrets with a matching color scheme of Cinderella Castle were added; surrounding the park's physical icon.

Planned Film

Director Jon Favreau and Walt Disney Pictures plan to produce and release a film concerning a family at Disneyland which finds the theme park characters and attractions coming to life.

Favreau, who said "the Disney iconography was probably the first set of archetypes that I was exposed to" and that Disney movies and attractions "made a deep impression on me as a child", noted that, "When I first heard about the Magic Kingdom film project, I was on my way to visit Disneyland with my family. I took notes and had no problem filling a book with all the ideas that this concept offered, even on first blush."

Marc Abraham and Eric Newman of Strike Entertainment are scheduled to produce the film. Writer-producer Ronald D. Moore had previously written an original script for the project, which the studio eventually declined to use, stating that Favreau and a new screenwriter will develop a new script. On June 20, 2011, Spider-Man 2 story contributor, Michael Chabon signed on to write the film's script.

Gallery

Magic Kingdom's Christmas Tree

A 2011 guide map that has a retro look to it for the Magic Kingdom's 40th anniversary